BEYOND
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SJSREVIEW.COM I SEPTEMBER 17, 2014
Alum exchanges greenbacks for collard greens After investing in national grocery store chain as a student, Schaffer continues to practice pediatric medicine
The Doctor is In Don Schaffer (‘69) examines student-athletes at Rice University. Schaffer, who now runs a pediatric practice, invested in Whole Foods during its infancy. by Gabe Malek and Christopher Zimmerman
W
hile Don Schaffer’s (‘69) classmates spent their limited finances on bulk packs of ramen, Schaffer decided that his money would be better spent investing in his friend’s startup company. That business became Whole Foods. “In 1978, I was sitting in my duplex. At the time, I was doing my pediatric residency, and a friend named John Mackey came over,” Schaffer said. “He was wondering if I wanted to invest in his health foods business, Whole Foods, starting in Austin. I did not have much money, but I made an initial investment of $2,500.” Mackey was a graduate of Spring Branch High School, and his father was a successful businessman as well. “Generally, I invest with devoted people who seem to have the desire to make sure things work,” Schaffer said. “[Mackey] had advice from his father and input from his friends. He was very sure of himself and that this was the business he was meant to run.” Schaffer served on the Board of
Directors at Whole Foods until 1988. He is still invited to shareholder meetings and other company functions. He has remained involved with the school community even after the success of Whole Foods. “I gave some [Whole Foods] stock to SJS a few years ago so they could build the language lab, and the school had a party in honor of the donation,” Schaffer said. “Ironically, it was catered by Central Market.” His investment experience gave him a unique outlook towards venture capitalism. Schaffer is fond of Warren Buffett’s philosophy of investing with people as opposed to concepts. He will invest more if he knows the people are devoted to their ideas and beliefs. Schaffer believes that best thing to do with an investment is hold on to it for a long time: the best time to sell is never. Although Schaffer had success with his investment, he strayed from venture capitalism and continued with his pediatric residency. Schaffer advises anyone interested in pursuing medicine to expect constant and vigorous work. “If you feel that medicine is what you want to do, you have to be will-
ing to let it take over a big chunk of your life,” Schaffer said. Schaffer attributes his work ethic to SJS. “The fact that SJS was difficult helped me moving forward because everything from there on was easy,” Schaffer said. “I was in the lower half of my class, but moving on to college I was at the top a lot of times. If you can get through SJS, you can get through anywhere.” While Schaffer’s patients usually refer to him as Doctor, fellow members of the class of 1969 might remember him as “The Toe,” a nickname he earned from his high school football days. “I was a senior on the football team, and I was a barefoot kicker,” Schaffer said. “We were playing in the Kinkaid game, and a cold front had just come in after it rained all day, so neither of the teams could get anything going offensively. With the game tied at 0-0, the coach put me in to kick a field goal victory.” Schaffer’s two daughters Jamie (‘03) and Madison (‘10) graduated from SJS, and he still attends school sporting events. “I go to the SJS vs. Kinkaid game every year, and I went to a lot of the
AUSTIN ZHANG
basketball games over the past few seasons,” Schaffer said. Schaffer’s love of sports also led him to become a team physician at Rice University, where he has worked with athletes for the past six years. Schaffer also practices pediatrics and allowed seniors Allison Burch and Rebecca Chen to shadow him for two weeks this summer. “He was hilarious,” said Burch. “He would always make jokes, and I remember he would sometimes impersonate George W. Bush.” Burch would follow a physician’s assistant during the preliminary examination and then follow Schaffer during the full checkup. “It’s hard to shadow a doctor because there isn’t much you can physically do, but Dr. Schaffer was really good about letting us interact with patients,” said Burch. Burch remembered how Schaffer would always chat with patients about sports and school during their examinations, and she got a feel for his bedside manner Burch said, “He was really honest and funny, but he was also straightforward and worked extremely hard.”
Catching up with
former Girls’ Cross-Country Captains
Carson Gibson (’12)
Martha Daniel (’13)
Molly Vitek (’14)
Although I only ran cross country for two years at St. John’s, the experience and skills I gained will stay with me for the rest of my life. Cross country taught that a little optimism goes a long way. Before joining the cross-country team, I never understood how running could be a team sport. Now, I marvel at people that run alone. Running cross country also taught me the value of what Coach Fabre calls “positive self-talk.” Nowadays, I only run casually, but I hope to take it more seriously again someday. My perceptions of my own capabilities are forever altered and “can’t” has been all but removed from my vocabulary. I work to find the positives in every situation. I am forever grateful for the lessons I learned from cross country, but I am more grateful for the people that taught me them.
I’m really enjoying my time in California, double majoring in Print/Digital Journalism and Gender Studies at USC. This year, I hold a leadership position within a branch of the university’s undergraduate student government called the Women’s Student Assembly. I also intern for a project called Naked Narratives, which brings women together to write about their bodily experiences and build a collective understanding of the intersections between their world, their bodies, and their experiences as women. Besides that, running is still a big part of my life, and I’m living in a teeny apartment off campus with my wonderful roommate. I’m loving working my way through Los Angeles’ restaurants, museums, and concerts, and I’m finding that this city and this school have amazing things to offer. Fight on!
So far, I am involved in a service-based Freshman Leadership Organization, a sorority, and Christian Campus Fellowship. I have not been able to run because I am recovering from an injury, but working out in college is great. Georgia Tech’s pool was built for and used in the 1996 Olympics, so that’s pretty awesome. And just in general the workout facilities at Tech or any college are insane, so you have no reason to be out of shape, even if you’re injured. I like my intro to computer science course, which I was not expecting. And all my other classes are core classes, which aren’t too different from SJS classes. One of the biggest differences is that there are many more ways to find help. Honestly, SJS prepares you very well for college because most of these kids have never studied half as hard as I have going into their first year.